


Bug Scare

by EllanaSan



Series: Oria-verse [3]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Kicking The Odds - verse, Kid Fic, Oria - verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-29
Updated: 2015-01-29
Packaged: 2018-03-09 14:00:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3252425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllanaSan/pseuds/EllanaSan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haymitch was out of the couch and half-way up the stairs before he even realized he had moved. Fear like he hadn’t known in years clenched his guts, his hands itched for a knife that wasn’t there anymore and he cursed Effie to hell and back for forcing him to put it away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bug Scare

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of my Oria's serie. It was published a while ago on ff.net and I'm moving them back here =)

“A bit on the left.” he instructed, tilting his head to get a better view.

“That way?” Effie asked, leaning slightly on her left so that Peeta’s latest painting would hang up straight. She had fallen in love with it at first sight and the boy had gifted her with it like he so often did. Haymitch could swear their whole house was decorated with his paintings.

“Maybe to the right now.” he said absent-mindedly from his seat on the couch.

Effie was perched on a stool, in front of the chimney, but that didn’t stop her from glaring at him over her shoulder. “Why do I have the sneaking suspicion you are ogling me and not at all being helpful?”

He denied it, waving carelessly. “I’m not ogling you, I’m ogling your ass.”

“Language.” she clucked her tongue. “Do you want a repeat of the ‘shit’ situation?”

He suppressed a smirk. Oria had gone through a phase, the previous year, when she repeated absolutely everything. She had taken great delight in repeating Haymitch’s “shit” all over the place, to Effie’s upmost mortification. It had lasted for months until they managed to break the habit – Haymitch bribed her with sweets but Effie didn’t need to know that.

“She’s upstairs.” He rolled his eyes. “Relax, would you?”

“I will relax when you take your mind out of the gutter to help me.” she replied.

“You shouldn’t wear skirts that tight if you don’t want me to get distracted, sweetheart.” Haymitch found the whole thing very unfair. She was the one parading around in skin-tight clothes and _he_ wasn’t supposed to get sidetracked?

“I love when you’re distracted.” she grinned, glancing back over her shoulder. “I just want the painting on the wall first.”

Suddenly more interested in the whole business, he leaned forward. “Okay, just a bit to the right and that should do it.” Maybe they could send Oria to Katniss’ for the day…

“Are you sure that…” Effie started only to be cut off by a blood-curling scream.

“ _DADDY, HELP ME! DADDY!_ ”

Haymitch was out of the couch and half-way up the stairs before he even realized he had moved. Fear like he hadn’t known in years clenched his guts, his hands itched for a knife that wasn’t there anymore and he cursed Effie to hell and back for forcing him to put it away. Oria would get herself hurt, she had argued, what if she went for a hug and got cut on his ever-present knife? Yeah, well…

He was in the corridor when he wondered who would attack his house? Not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things because they were dead. _Nobody_ touched his family and lived and the person who was desperate enough to try would rue the day they had come close to his daughter. Yet, the thought was there. Who would it be? Someone from the District who wanted to make the former escort pay or someone from the Capitol who wanted to make the former victor bleed?

Another cry for help made him run faster and he barged in Oria’s room, ready for a fight. His eyes toured the bedroom and found nothing but a little girl standing on her small children-sized table and an open window. Effie’s echoing footsteps and Oria’s relieved call for her mommy made him rush to the window, he surveyed the street below but it was all empty. All he could hear was the faint honking of geese. The geese should have honked harder, he thought, turning around in time to see Effie scooping the girl in her arms and holding her protectively against her chest.

Effie was pale and shaking, their eyes met and he saw his own terror reflected in hers. Haymitch could barely breathe.

“What happened, sweetie?” she asked, trying to keep her voice steady and failing in an abysmal fashion. “Are you hurt? Did someone try to hurt you? Tell me, baby, tell Mommy…”

Haymitch gripped the edge of the chest of drawers, heart racing so fast he was seeing black dots dancing in front of his eyes. Anger, his long time friend, surged through his veins. He would hunt whoever had tried to hurt his baby and he would make them regret the day they were born… He would…

“There was a bug.” Oria said, looking uncertainly from Effie to him, obviously picking up on the tension.

Effie’s shoulders slackened in relief.

Haymitch’s whole train of thoughts came to an abrupt stop. “You shouted bloody murder for _a bug_?” he hissed through clenched teeth.

“Haymitch.” Effie warned at once. He ignored her.

“Answer me!” he screamed, barely registering Oria’s cringing or the way she clung harder to her mother.

“It was a scary bug.” Oria sniffed pitifully, her lips starting to wobble in what would surely lead to a crying fit.

She couldn’t understand, the sane part of his mind whispered in his mind, he had never been angry with her before, not really, not like that. It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t her fault and yet Haymitch couldn’t control himself. Panic and long repressed fears that had only been slumbering climbed back to show their ugly head and he was drowning in them because he didn’t know what he would do if he were to lose her. Or Effie for that matter, but Oria… Oria was innocent and defenseless and losing her had been his worst fear since the moment he had seen her on an ultrasound scanner screen.

“You _don’t_ scream like that for a bug, Orianna!” he growled dangerously. “You don’t scream like that unless someone is trying to kill you, you stupid child! You…”

“Haymitch.” It wasn’t Effie’s voice but her hand on his chest that stopped him. He hadn’t realized he had stepped so close. He didn’t like the way Effie was standing, on her side, a hand on his chest, mostly shielding their daughter with her own body. “Haymitch, stop. She didn’t know better.”

“She should have!” he argued but his anger deflated slightly when he saw Oria burying her face in her mother’s neck.

“You’re frightening her.” Effie said calmly. “You’re frightening our daughter. Stop. Come back. It’s over. Come back.”

‘Come back’ was what he had said to her in the beginning, when her nightmares were still so bad she woke up screaming. They had mostly faded now but he occasionally had to use that trick. ‘Come back’ meant it was all a dream. ‘Come back’ meant it was safe. ‘Come back’ meant someone was there to catch you.

He forced his breathing to slow down. His eyes never left Effie’s. She was an anchoring point. He needed one.

“I thought…” He let the sentence unfinished. He didn’t want to finish it in this house. It was their home. Their home shouldn’t be tainted by remnants from the war.

“I know. I thought the same thing.” she closed her eyes and breathed out slowly, rocking the five years old against her chest. Oria was silently crying, it was worse than if she had been wailing. Wailing, he had learned how to comfort but silent crying? “Step outside for a moment, Haymitch, you’re not calm yet.”

His first instinct was to argue but he realized she was right. He wasn’t still angry that wasn’t the problem. His shaking hands were. He nodded sharply once and got out of Oria’s room. He didn’t go far. Four steps away and he was sliding against the wall, gathering his head in his quivering hands.

The danger might not have been real but the fear was and it was all-encompassing. Panic was all he could feel. A blinding red panic that brought him back to the arena, the Games and the rebellion. It made him thirsty for a liquor he had not touched in five years, not since Oria’s birth. It made him…

“Haymitch.” Hands clasped his and squeezed, bringing them away from his face. He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there, long enough for Effie to comfort their girl apparently. She was crouched in front of him, a frown on her still pale face. They wouldn’t sleep a lot that night, he figured, nightmares would keep both of them up.

“I’m sorry.” he rasped out. “I didn’t mean to shout.”

“I know. I explained it to her, it’s alright.” She squeezed his hands again and he felt dejected. There she was, taking care of their child, taking care of him… Who would take care of her?

“No, it’s not.” he shook his head. “I scared her. I lost control. I…”

“Haymitch, if you hadn’t, I would have.” she cut in. “It’s our fault, though. We should have… _taught_ her not to scream that way for something not life-threatening.”

“Didn’t know we had to.” he mumbled, letting his head fall on the wall behind him. It was probably a good thing that she felt safe enough to deem a mere bug _that_ scary. It meant she wasn’t scared for her life like he had been growing up but… “She plays with bugs all the time. She goes to the woods with Katniss and…” he sighed.

“Yes, apparently, that bug was very big and very weird.” She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “If I find it, I shall swat it myself.” Adrenaline must have taken a toll on her too.

“I need a drink.” he said, rubbing his face.

“No, you don’t.” _That_ was definitive and she eyed him with enough suspicion that he knew she would be watching him like a hawk for the next few days. It would probably be best anyway. He knew where to get alcohol if he really wanted to. Not that he _wanted_ to but… Sometimes, things could go out of control. “You need to go talk to your daughter.”

There was always something magical in that association of words : _your daughter_. It was a gift from Effie. Something precious and unexpected he would always be grateful for and that he would cherish until his dying day. Still, he was always afraid she had made the wrong choice in trusting him with her child.

“Did I let you down?” he asked, because he wanted a truthful answer.

“No.” she replied, softly. Her hand cupped his cheek and he leaned into her touch. “She was scared, she called for you, she didn’t even think about it. That’s all it was : a frightened little girl calling for her father. We blew this out of proportions.”

“Because we’re messed up, sweetheart.” he said, covering her hand with his.

“Because we love her more than we love anything else and we both would kill whoever tries to hurt our baby without a second thought.” she shrugged. “I think it has more to do with us being parents, actually.”

He searched her eyes for a second and finally allowed himself to relax. If he hadn’t lost his temper, she would have. Effie could be deadly scary too when she was afraid. “I never wanted to scare her.”

“I know.” Effie said. “I told you, I explained it to her. It’s alright.”

“No…” he avoided her eyes. “I wanted her to never be scared of me. _Ever_.” He shrugged. “What if she hates me now? What if…”

“She doesn’t hate you.” she said, shifting so she could sit next to him. She rested her head on his shoulder.

“I don’t want her to look at me with fear.” He had trouble swallowing. “What if… What if she looks at me and I see fear?” Like so many children had done before her? He couldn’t bear it if his own child looked at him that way.

“You won’t.” Effie promised. “I don’t think _you_ scared her, Haymitch. It was you being terrified, rather. You’re her father, she didn’t know you were human too.” She kissed his cheek and got to her feet before outstretching a hand to him. “Come on, you both need a hug.”

He took her hand and let her haul him to his feet and then to Oria’s room. He didn’t let go when he stepped in, taking in the five years old sitting at the small table, fiddling with one of her colored pencils – cause, _of course_ , if Peeta was an artist, she _had_ to be too because she fully intended to marry him at some point.

“’M sorry, Daddy.” she mumbled. Her eyes were red and puffy, it broke Haymitch’s heart.

“ _I_ ’m sorry, baby girl.” he corrected her, releasing Effie’s hand to pick the child up. Oria immediately flung her arms around his neck and clung to his chest with her small legs in a vicious grip. Little monkey, he thought, with so much love he could swear his heart was going to burst. “Daddy’s sorry.” he repeated, just to be sure she got it. “I shouldn’t have shouted.”

“Mommy says you were scared because I got scared because of the stupid bug.” she sniffed, tightening his grip on his neck. “I’m sorry I scared you, Daddy.”

“It’s okay.” He sat on the bed so she could sit in his lap – and not try to strangle him like she seemed to have her mind set on doing. He looked up to find Effie leaning against the doorframe and patted the space next to him. That wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have on his own. She came to sit with them and was immediately attacked in one of Oria’s treasured ‘group hug’. It really meant that the adults were all being throttled by surprisingly strong small arms but that was okay. They loved it anyway.

“Tell Daddy you’re not angry with him, sweetie.” Effie requested, after the child was done hugging. She brushed the hair that had come loose from the Katniss’ style braid Oria always insisted on sporting away from her daughter’s face.

Oria frowned and turned her pretty blue eyes, bluer than her mother’s which was a feat in itself, to him. “I’m not angry with Daddy.” she said quickly. “I’m sorry Daddy had scared.”

“ _Got_ scared.” Effie corrected absent-mindedly, before pressing a kiss on her head. “There. Let’s forget the whole thing. It’s almost time for tea… Should we go see if Uncle Peeta has some cookies left?”

“Yeah!” Oria immediately jumped from Haymitch’s knees but he grabbed her and put her back on the bed, scooting over slightly so she was nestled between Effie and him.

“In a second, baby girl.” he said. “We need to… agree on some new rules first.” Because he would be damned if something like that happened again. Effie nodded her assent and he went on, feeling out of his territory. It was Effie who usually thought of ground rules for both of them to follow. “You can’t scream like that for a bug again, Oria.”

“But it was a _scary_ bug, Daddy.” The child sighed, a stubborn scowl on her face. “It was _huuuuge_ and green and…”

“I get it was a scary bug but a bug won’t hurt you, baby girl.” he objected, as calmly as he could. Thinking about it again was quickly bringing the fear back. “Next time, shout ‘Daddy, there is a bug’ or I don’t know… Just… Don’t scream for help like that if it’s not important.”

He had been afraid of seeing fear in her eyes, he should have been worried about her looking at him as if he was being stupid. “It was huge and scary. Maybe it wanted to _eat_ me.”

Haymitch opened his mouth but Effie placed a hand on his shoulder, probably guessing that kind of pointless conversation could go on for a while. “What Daddy means is that you can’t scream for help like that if you’re not hurt or if someone isn’t trying to hurt you.”

“Or if you’re really, really scared.” he added, because he didn’t want her to feel like she _wasn’t allowed_ to call for help either. “Like… If you see a dog and you think it’s mean… Well, no, don’t call for help, it will only scare the dog and it will attack but…”

“Haymitch, you’re not helping.” Effie sighed. “Look, sweetie, next time there is a scary bug, you call for Daddy but you don’t say ‘help me’, alright? But… Let’s say you fall from a tree…”

“It’s forbidden to climb trees.” Oria piped, with a glance for her father who pointedly stared at the floor.

“ _Funny_ , you should remember that now but not when you went to the woods with Daddy and Auntie Katniss last week.” Effie chuckled. She wasn’t amused though, Haymitch could tell.

Oria gasped. “It’s a secret! How…”

“How did I know?” Effie lifted a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Because Mommy always knows. Now, if you fall from a tree, you can say ‘help’. Do you understand the difference?”

Oria nodded her head. “I say help if I have a booboo.”

“Or?” Haymitch prompted.

“Or if something is going to do a booboo to me. Is that right?” she said proudly, swinging her legs against the side of the bed in her excitement.

“Yes.” Haymitch smirked, before ruffling her hair. “Clever girl.”

“Can I have my cookies now?” she grinned, the incident already forgotten.

“If Uncle Peeta baked some, then yes, but no more than two.” Effie smiled.

“Three?” the girl asked hopefully, with her best puppy eyes.

“Three.” Haymitch agreed, ignoring Effie’s pointed staring.

“Thank you, Daddy!” she cried, throwing herself at him, limbs flying. She hugged him for dear life and then she leaped from the bed and bolted from the room, laughter trailing in her wake.

“No running in the house!” Effie shouted even though that had never helped before.

Haymitch snorted and went to the window. He got there just in time to see Oria exit their home and run to their neighbors, three houses down. She didn’t bother with knocking and went straight in through the back door that was always open. One day, the kids would learn to lock their door but that day wasn’t today apparently.

Effie’s arms sneaked around his waist and she pressed her body against his back. “It’s a good life, we have.” she said. “Better than I thought it could ever be.”

“It is.” he agreed, turning around so he could kiss her properly. It was the best life. A life he had never known he wanted but a life he enjoyed nonetheless. And being scared of losing it, as unreal as the incident had been, only made him realize how precious that life was to him. He had found meaning. He wasn’t a hopeless drunk anymore but a father and that changed everything.

“I love you.” she whispered, like she often did.

“I love you too.” he answered, like he never did.

Well, not true. He had said it twice before. Once when Oria was born and another time, when Oria was still a baby and Effie had gone through a panic attack that had lasted hours because she had been afraid, suddenly, that someone would come and take her child away. He found it hard to say those words, less so with Orianna. With Orianna it was easy but not with Effie or anyone else. It was like the kids… He loved Katniss and Peeta like they were his own – well, Katniss mainly, he had mixed feeling about Peeta those days, it seemed to him each one of his girls was rather taken with the boy – but he could never admit that much to them.

Effie froze, frowned and then grinned, her hand playing with the first button of his shirt. “Should I phone the children and make sure they keep an eye on Oria for the rest of the afternoon?”

“You have the best ideas, sweetheart.” he smirked before kissing her again.


End file.
